In September 2011, households’ confidence deteriorates

In September 2011, household’s confidence about the economic situation deteriorates with respect to July : the synthetic confidence index looses 5 points, and stands at its lowest level since February 2009.

Personal situation

Financial situation: expectations sharply decreasing

Between July and September, households appreciation of their future financial situation decreases: the corresponding balance gains 6 points. Households’s opinion on the timeliness to make major purchases also declines (-5 points). Yet, their appreciation of their past financial situation is almost stable (-1 point).

Savings: in degradation too

In September, households consider that the timeliness for savings deteriorates with respect to July: the corresponding balance of opinion loses 8 points, standing at below its long term average.

Households’ opinion about their current saving capacity decreases to a lesser extent (-3 points between July and September), their appreciation of their savings capacity in the next 12 months is almost stable (-1 point).

Consumer synthetic index

CONSUMER OPINION: synthetic index and opinion balances
		2011
Balance of responses, seasonally ajusted
(1) Average value between January 1987 and December 2010
(2) This indicator is normalised in such a way that its average equals 100 and standard error equals 10 over the estimation period (1987-2010).
	Average (1)	June	July	Aug.	Sept.
Synthetic index (2)	100	82	85	82	80
Financial sit., past 12 m.	–17	–31	–28	–28	–29
Financial sit., next 12 m.	–2	–22	–19	–22	–25
Current saving capacity	11	13	19	17	16
Expected saving capacity	–9	–16	–12	–13	–13
Savings intentions, next 12 m.	20	25	24	20	16
Major purchases intentions, next 12 m.	–13	–26	–21	–24	–26
General economic sit., past 12 m.	–40	–68	–67	–72	–76
General economic sit., next 12 m.	–21	–48	–45	–53	–59
Unemployment, next 12 m.	33	36	48	57	71
Consumer prices, past 12 m.	–19	22	22	20	18
Consumer prices, next 12 m.	–35	–14	–18	–18	–18

Economic situation in France

Expected general economic situation in France: declining

In September, households are markedly more pessimistic about the past and expected general economic situation in France: the corresponding balances of opinion lose 9 and 14 points respectively with respect to July.

Future unemployment: expectations sharply increasing

In September, households are much more numerous than in July to forecast an increase in unemployment (+23 points). After having declined to its long term average in May, this balance of opinion has increased by 37 points since then, being back to its level of June 2010.

Inflation’s appreciation: decreasing

Households estimate that inflation has decreased: the corresponding balance loses 4 points in September with respect to July. Their opinion about expected inflation is stable.

Balances on personnal financial situation and general economic situation